I used to watch them, when guys like Barry Sanders, Herman Moore and Johnnie Morton were on my fantasy football teams, but I wasn't a fan.

Former Detroit Lions quarterbacks Scott Mitchell, left, and Charlie Batch joke around during the 1998 training camp. The Lions have just one winning season since that year, in which Batch replaced Mitchell as the starting quarterback.

But with the team at 0-8 overall and on the verge of making history as the first winless team since the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers went 0-14 in the 1976 season, the games are getting intriguing.

Maybe, not the games. But at least predicting when that first win may come.
A lot of people will put the beginning of the Lions' struggles on general manager Matt Millen. Millen's track record is obvious, so that's not even debatable, however, it goes back even farther than that.

I'm going to point to a Monday Night Football game in the 1998 season as the downfall to the Lions -- well, at least in the time I took interest in the Lions.

In 1995, quarterback Scott Mitchell threw for 4,300 yards and 32 touchdowns for the playoff-bound Lions... After three years of leading the Lions in passing, Detroit eventually would yank him for Charlie Batch, who came in fired up against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and securing the starting job.

Yes, Batch was still in the NFL until an injury sidelined him this year -- and he has a distinguished career as a backup -- however, a quarterback from Eastern Michigan University with a career record there of 10-34 should not have been the answer.
Batch's best NFL season was nearly 2,500 passing yards and 13 TDs. He also threw 15 interceptions that season.

But the Lions benched Mitchell and have been cursed ever since... Maybe, it wasn't Millen's fault after all.

Getting back to the point in where the Lions might pick up a win.

In the past, you could expect a spirited Thanksgiving Day effort. But against the undefeated Tennessee Titans, that's not going to happen.

Tampa Bay (Nov. 23) is 6-3, but has struggled offensively. Former Lions outcast Jeff Garcia might have something to say about a letdown there.

Which only leaves rivalry games against Minnesota (Dec. 7) and at Green Bay (Dec. 28) as the only hopes. Adrian Peterson and Ryan Grant should run over the lifeless Lions defense in those games, but if a shootout occurs, is there an NFC North team good enough to stop anyone?